There were, of course, many particular local customs which were faithfully repeated year by year. But I suspect that we would find many things that were fairly much in common. Did you have ice cream in those little cardboard buckets with the wooden spoons? Toffee apples? A choice of red or green cordial? A slice of cake? Races with a penny prize? Sack race? Three-legged race? Wheel barrow race? Egg and spoon race? A tug-of-war? A packet of boiled lollies? I think many of us can remember a number of things in common.
How about a game of rounders? Now there's a good friendly game for you. Baseball has a rather strict set of rules. But rounders is more informal. Rules vary somewhat from place to place. Of course, that doesn't prevent some people having some very rigid ideas about the rules! Have you ever seen a group of young people arguing about the rules for rounders! It can become quite heated, even though it's not a competition game!
Rules are important and we don't like them being changed - unless it happens to be to our advantage!
We all recognise that the physical laws cannot be changed. We depend on them all the time. We were in Childers when Apollo 11 landed on the Moon. An old lady who lived not far from us was sure they couldn't possibly make it - after all, God didn't mean us to go up there! I tried to prepare her for what was obviously about to happen. The physical laws of God's universe are just as true up there as they are down here, I tried to explain. They are depending on them being true. If they don't make it, it will be because of human miscalculation, not God's will.
Well, they made it! Most of us saw it on black-and-white TV as it happened. Do you remember that there were race riots outside the Cape Canaveral space centre, protesting that huge amounts of money were being spent on the space programme but too little effort on reconciling white and black? At the time I wrote these thoughts:
We know the laws of motion,
Of gravity and the like,
And forget the Ten Commandments
And all the laws on life!
We thank you, God, that Jesus came
To bring us back to you
That we may know in everything,
Dear God, your laws are true!
Jesus made it quite clear that he hadn't come to scrap the Law, but to make it come true - literally, to fulfil or complete it. Sometimes we have assumed that Jesus was changing the rules and making it easier on us. After all, didn't he say, "You have heard that it was said… but now I tell you…"?
Yet when we examine what he was saying, we realise that he was saying that God's requirements are harder, not easier. It is not enough, Jesus was saying, to keep the humanly enforcible part of the Law. God expects our motives and emotions, our attitudes and words to be right, as well as our actions. In fact, "You must be perfect - just as your Father in heaven is perfect!" (Mt.5.48)
We find all sorts of reasons why perfection is an impossible and foolish standard. I recently came across this list by American quality consultant Jeff Dewar. Dewar argues for eliminating defects altogether. To make his point, he has come up with some examples for what life would be like if things were done right only 99.9% of the time. The American people would have to accept:
Suddenly, the quest for perfection makes a lot of sense! And perfection has been God's plan for human life all along. Of course, he knows what we are like - he's been dealing with the human race for a long time now! And his plan for perfection is very dependent on forgiveness for sinners plus a large dose of divine help. We may fall a long way short of his expectations a good deal of the time, but he's still working on us!
Jesus gives six examples of how God expects much more of us than avoiding wrong action.
The Law forbade murder. Anger cannot be punished by human courts - unless it leads to violent action - but in God's sight it is worthy of hell-fire!
When Leonardo da Vinci was painting the Last Supper, he had an intense, bitter argument with a fellow painter. Leonardo was so enraged that he decided to paint the face of his enemy into the face of Judas. That way the hated painter would be preserved for ages in the face of the betraying disciple. When Leonardo finished Judas, everyone easily recognised the face of the painter with whom Leonardo quarrelled.
Leonardo continued to work on the painting. But as much as he tried, he couldn't paint the face of Christ. Something was holding him back.
Leonardo decided his hatred toward his fellow painter was the problem. So he worked through his hatred by repainting Judas' face, replacing the image of his fellow painter with another face. Only then was he able to paint Jesus' face and complete the masterpiece.
It is not enough, Jesus says, to avoid adultery. Lustful thoughts make a person guilty of committing adultery in his heart and fit him for hell.
Marriage is a commitment for life. The bond continues unless it is broken by unfaithfulness.
Our speech is to be direct and honest - our "Yes" is to mean "Yes" and our "No" is to mean "No". The urge to strengthen what we say with sayings like "by God" or "heavens above" comes from the Evil One, not from God.
The old "eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth" may represent perfectly balanced justice, but God expects of us mercy and generosity, not revenge. As he has told them earlier, "Happy are those who are merciful to others; God will be merciful to them!"
In Lev. 19.17-18 we read, "Do not bear a grudge against anyone, but settle your differences with him, so that you will not commit a sin because of him. Do not take revenge on anyone or continue to hate him, but love your neighbour as you love yourself. I am the Lord."
The Old Testament gives the command to love, but nowhere a command to hate one's enemies. We are to love our enemies and pray for our persecutors "so that we may become the sons of our Father in heaven." God's love reaches out to all. We think of the words of Jesus on the cross, "Forgive them, Father! They don't know what they are doing" (Lk.23.34).
A minister received this note:
Dear Preacher,
I heard you say to love our enemies. I am only six and do not have any yet. I hope to have some when I am seven.
Your friend,
Amy.
No, it's not compulsory to have enemies. Abraham Lincoln was once asked for his attitude toward his enemies. "Why do you try to make friends of them?" an associate asked. "You should try to destroy them." "Am I not destroying my enemies," Lincoln replied, "when I make them my friends?"
That approach is costly, not cheap. It is how the Father himself has acted to bring the wayward human race back to himself.
Jesus wasn't rewriting the rules of the game. He was spelling out what the "laws of life" are all about. But perfection isn't possible without grace. Jesus explains the Law in a way that makes us realise we are all guilty at one point or another. He doesn't lower the standard so that sinners can get in! We are forgiven and welcomed by a process that cost Jesus his life. And he has promised to be with us every step of the way! Let's be sure to step out together with him!
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